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Carry Me Home
After a brief intermission, Sam returns and is ready to continue his tale. Cast * Sam Yao * Major de Santa * Rackley * Chris McShell * Nadia Al Hanaki Plot On My Mark You’re trapped in a barn surrounded by zoms, and someone is going grey. Sam takes the mic from a floundering Janine and directs you and the Major to safety. Bad News You traverse the carnage; the Major commands everyone to return to Abel and Sam’s request for help from New Canton is refused. Zombies Don't Run You’ve escaped immediate danger; a bitten Rackley requests a single bullet to the head. A figure is seen on the monitor running towards the group. Dunbar Numbers Chris McShell wants to defect from New Canton to Abel Township and has brought all of his zombie research with him, as well as some two-way headsets. Approaching From The North-West Sam says New Canton is ordering you to save a trapped Nadia, but the Major announces you will no longer be accepting their orders. Stuff And Nonsense The Major welcomes Chris to Abel. He mentions a secret lab under the township; a woman named Diana had asked him about it. Something That'd Save The World The Major quarantines everyone for the night, before telling the story of Cain and Abel. You return to the present day; Sam reckons the forest perimeter is secure. Transcript SAM YAO: Okay, okay, back from the bogs. Sorry, took longer than I expected. All a bit complicated. Wait, no, that sounds wrong. It was just complicated because Janine wanted help carrying some concrete slabs for some reason, not because I have complicated toilet requirements. laughs Oh God! I sound exactly as confused as I was back then! Like, talking about it has sort of brought that old Sam back to my mind. It’s weird. But, in fact, I am a little bit less confused then than I was now. Um, now than I was then. Right. Where were we? Oh, yeah. Facing certain death. Someone going gray inside the barn, crowd of zombies outside the barn, okay. Here we go, then. Rest of the story. sighs AUTOMATED VOICE: Setup completed. Starting Flashback Mode. coughs MAJOR DE SANTA: Everyone, back away from that woman. CIVILIAN: It was only Grace. I thought maybe she – maybe they could cure her at New Canton. MAJOR DE SANTA: No one is getting cured, there is no cure. CIVILIAN: We can’t know that! MAJOR DE SANTA: Have to behave as if that’s the case. Back away from her. CIVILIAN: I – I won’t leave her! MAJOR DE SANTA: Rackley if he doesn’t move, shoot him. RACKLEY: Ma'am. JANINE DE LUCA: The zombies have heard you. They know something’s going on, they’re outside, they’re all around! MAJOR DE SANTA: Might still make it if we keep quiet. We have to keep quiet! coughs Oh, for God’s sake! How many of you have been bitten? SAM YAO: Look, look! The zoms are massing towards the back of the barn. JANINE DE LUCA: They’re going to eat them all! All of them, it’s my fault, should have insisted they run on, they could have stayed ahead! SAM YAO: Major, if you can hear me, I’ve got cameras on three sides of that barn. There’s a way out if you can take it, and if you’re fast. The other door to the um - to the north side of the barn. Only three zoms there, and one’s missing both arms. And there’s high ground where you can take a stand if you need to. You can do it, if you go now. JANINE DE LUCA: What are you doing? SAM YAO: Look, Major, I’m repeating. There’s a way out - continues MAJOR DE SANTA: Sergeant Ellis, you heard that. On my mark, we’re going. If you can run, follow me! battle zombies MAJOR DE SANTA: Sergeant Ellis, to me! JANINE DE LUCA: Can you see what’s happening? SAM YAO: Well, yeah, look! Look, this camera’s lens is shattered, but that blur there, that’s the Major and Ellis. gunshots Go get them, yes! They’ve taken down about twenty, now. JANINE DE LUCA: How can you tell? SAM YAO: I did a specialism in ultrasonic engineering last term. Might have been because I thought it had more to do with sound systems. Anyway, we did some practice interpreting ultrasound images. This is a lot easier. Look, here’s the corner of the barn, there are the children hiding behind the Major and Ellis, and there are the dead zoms. And there’s, yeah – oh. is bitten, shouts MAJOR DE SANTA: They’ve got Adebayo. Fall back, fall back! We’ve got to get out of here. RACKLEY: You come with me. He’s dead now, you can’t save him! CIVILIAN: But I can’t just leave him, I can’t. It’s our anniversary next week. RACKLEY: Come, now! bitten, shouts With me, now! SAM YAO: Oi! Zicheng Chu! You still on the line? ZICHENG CHU: Yes. SAM YAO: Well, your advice got them into this mess, pal, so you’re getting them out. We need New Canton soldiers out now to rescue our people. ZICHENG CHU: We – I’m sorry, we can’t do that. MAJOR DE SANTA: Get moving! We’ve lost too many people now. Straight back to Abel. Right now! SAM YAO: What do you mean, you can’t do that? You can, and you will! ZICHENG CHU: We – our people are in the field. There’s an influx of refugees. We think something’s drawing the zombies to this location. Our people are pinned down, or on other missions. There are other people who need us. SAM YAO: Fat lot of use you are, then. Major, Ellis, turn your headsets to channel seven. I’ll follow you straight over. ZICHENG CHU: No, you can’t do that! We can’t let you – static SAM YAO: And here we are. Without New Canton in our bleeding ear holes. Much better. Right, now you’ve got a straight road north. If you keep going, you look mostly clear. JANINE DE LUCA: That was a breach of the chain of command! New Canton’s the only quasi-democracy around here. SAM YAO: Yeah, well, if they’d turned up and thrown ballot boxes at the zoms, I’d have been more impressed. Right. Looks like there are twelve survivors. Keep moving. MAJOR DE SANTA: This way, all of you! RACKLEY: Ma'am? Bad news. I’ve been bitten. SAM YAO: Okay, you’re doing well. Out of immediate danger. No zoms within half a mile or so. Apart from… RACKLEY: I feel… alright. As if I were getting the flu. MAJOR DE SANTA: You know that’s not what’s happening, though, don’t you, Rackley? RACKLEY: Yes, ma'am. MAJOR DE SANTA: Some people seem to think it’s possible there’s a cure. RACKLEY: That’s not what I’ve seen, ma'am. MAJOR DE SANTA: What would you like? RACKLEY: Single bullet, ma'am. Clean as you can make it. MAJOR DE SANTA: Good choice. What I’d pick if it were my time. Single bullet, someone I trust. You’ve been a good soldier, Rackley. RACKLEY: Ma'am. MAJOR DE SANTA: Ready? RACKLEY: Yes. gunshot MAJOR DE SANTA: Brave woman. Let’s not make her sacrifice worthless. Hup to, all of you. We can make it back to Abel. SAM YAO: Good. You’re going well. JANINE DE LUCA: What’s that? Smudge on the monitor? SAM YAO: Mm, no. Too far away to tell. It looks like a person, running. Intercept course to our guys. JANINE DE LUCA: Zombie? SAM YAO: No, can’t be. Zombies don’t run, do they? SAM YAO: That figure’s approaching faster than you’d think, really. Must be important for them to - CHRIS MCSHELL: Major! It’s me, McShell. SAM YAO: Huh? MAJOR DE SANTA: Missed quite the bloodbath back there, McShell. CHRIS MCSHELL: Yes. I’m sorry. MAJOR DE SANTA: I’d rather like to talk to you about what you said just before you left, at some point. This is neither the place nor the time. Head off back to New Canton. We’ll be in touch. CHRIS MCSHELL: No, I – I’m not going back there. We both know how things have been between Abel and New Canton. It can’t be long now until it goes wrong. I uh… I want to defect. MAJOR DE SANTA: Defect? laughs Shouldn’t you have brought a poison-tipped umbrella, McShell? We’re not at war, here. At least not with each other. CHRIS MCSHELL: That’s what you think. I’ve brought something better than a poison-tipped umbrella. I’ve brought information. Here, in my backpack. All of my research, everything. And I managed to swipe some two-way headsets for you. Here. MAJOR DE SANTA: Hmm, solid piece of kit. Put this one on, Ellis. I still don’t see why you think there’s a need to defect. CHRIS MCSHELL: We’ll need to talk in private. It mostly amounts to um, dunbar numbers. MAJOR DE SANTA: Oh, rings a vague bell. Something about group sizes? CHRIS MCSHELL: I’ll tell you as we run. We have to go. They will be coming after me. NADIA AL HANAKI: static Help! Can anyone here me? Anyone? I’m stuck inside this van, there are zombies all around. I think they’re going to get in. Please, oh please, if anyone can help me! MAJOR DE SANTA: Hmm, is this working? Can you hear us, Yao? SAM YAO: Yes! Yes, I can hear you! It’s working! Oh, you sound great! I mean, you sound great, sir. Uh, ma'am. MAJOR DE SANTA: Don’t get your knickers in a twist, Yao. Tell us about this transmission. SAM YAO: Well, it’s a woman. Uh, she’s uh, about two miles from your position. New Canton are saying send your party to Abel, and then you and Ellis could divert to pick her up. MAJOR DE SANTA: Number of zombies surrounding the vehicle? SAM YAO: Uh, around thirty. Uh, ma'am. CHRIS MCSHELL: That’s too many. Critical mass. Their moans will attract more. MAJOR DE SANTA: Tell New Canton we can’t do it. SAM YAO: I – um. throat They’re saying it’s an order. MAJOR DE SANTA: Afraid we’re not accepting their orders anymore. McShell here’s been rather persuasive on the subject of Dunbar numbers. CHRIS MCSHELL: It’s just that um, you have to work in groups small enough to be able to trust each other, to know each other. You have to be able to look into someone else’s eyes and know that they’d tell you if they’d been bitten. That’s the only way we’re going to get through this. SAM YAO: How big’s a small group? CHRIS MCSHELL: About a hundred and fifty. New Canton’s too big. They’ve already had outbreaks there, people lying about being bitten. Their insistence on this weird form of democracy - it’s not what we need right now. There’s no real authority there, it’s going to - I can’t see how it won’t get worse. NADIA AL HANAKI: Please, help me! Someone, please! MAJOR DE SANTA: Can’t save everyone. New Canton just haven’t realized that yet. Small pack approaching from the northwest. Everyone, move. MAJOR DE SANTA: I see. That’s why we were attacked. CHRIS MCSHELL: Yes. Well, some of it. MAJOR DE SANTA: This is ears only, Ellis. Not to be spread around, not to a single soul. Wouldn’t do for morale. CHRIS MCSHELL: It’s very interesting research, really. I mean, scientifically. I’ve been experimenting with various chemicals. Today was just a bucket of warm blood and a fan to direct the scent. MAJOR DE SANTA: Certainly drew a large zombie crowd. CHRIS MCSHELL: Oh, I wouldn’t have done it if I’d thought there’d be any danger of the transport breaking down there. MAJOR DE SANTA: You’re still welcome at Abel. CHRIS MCSHELL: Hmm. Actually, I have a question about Abel. I mean, this is a bit embarrassing really, but - MAJOR DE SANTA: Spit it out. CHRIS MCSHELL: I know this sounds crazy. A few weeks ago, I met someone at New Canton. A woman. She just went by Diana. She said she’d heard a rumor that there was some kind of underground military laboratory in the area, and did I know where it was, so I said no, obviously. But then I started to think about Abel’s position - high on a hill, easy to defend, but inconspicuous. That concrete bunker - there’d be room in that hill for miles of tunnels. MAJOR DE SANTA: Stuff and nonsense. There’s no such place. CHRIS MCSHELL: Right. SAM YAO: Bobby? Can you like, um, raise the gates? They’re coming in. raising Cheers! MAJOR DE SANTA: All of you into quarantine. You’ll spend a night and day in that fenced area. If you don’t turn, we’ll have you in. And if you’re going to stay, you’ll have to earn your keep. SAM YAO: That’s a bit rough, isn’t it? They’ve just been rescued. MAJOR DE SANTA: Ever study the Bible, Mister Yao? SAM YAO: Uh, not so much. MAJOR DE SANTA: Presbyterian school. Learned large parts off by heart. Cain and Abel, for example. Take them. Brothers. Cain killed Abel. Do you know why Cain hated Abel, Mister Yao? SAM YAO: He copped off with Cain’s girlfriend, didn’t he? MAJOR DE SANTA: It was because of sacrifice. SAM YAO: Um… MAJOR DE SANTA: They both made sacrifices to God. One sacrificed meat, the other gave vegetables. And their vengeful god liked only one of the offerings. SAM YAO: Oh, let me guess. Abel did the veggie lasagna, right? And then Cain the carnivore killed him. All because God loves tofu. MAJOR DE SANTA: Other way around. Abel was the meat eater. He sacrificed the lambs. They were worth more. Abel was the one who understood that sacrifices have to be made. Perhaps more than you can afford. Sacrifices past enduring. SAM YAO: Oh. Right. MAJOR DE SANTA: You have to give up the things you think you cannot give. SAM YAO: And New Canton? MAJOR DE SANTA: This war is going to continue for longer than their projections. It’s going to take more from us. We’re going to have to be willing to lose almost everything, Yao. If we want to survive, we’ll have to make even bigger sacrifices. SAM YAO: That’s cheerful. MAJOR DE SANTA: If ever humanity has lived under the reign of a vengeful god, well, I believe it’s now. static SAM YAO: Yeah, she was always a bit like that, the Major. I mean, you know, good at her job, and focused, but like, serious. Anyway, things kind of went from bad to worse from there. We stopped obeying New Canton’s instructions. The Major tried explaining about Dunbar numbers to them, but it didn’t help. They stopped helping us, we stopped helping them. There was a whole thing where a bunch of their radio personnel went gray because they let someone in without proper quarantine procedures. laughs And they always thought we’d somehow nicked Chris McShell! That’s Veronica’s dad. Like we’d made him come on purpose. They were convinced we were planning something. Not like there’s much time to plan in a zombie apocalypse, you know. Anyway. Looks like that perimeter’s secure. And we’ll be transmitting those McShell notes over to you in the next day or two. Don’t think anyone’s had a chance to look them over since he died. You never know! You might find something that’d save the world, or something. Category:Mission Category:Season Three